Brace or like article



'y 5 5 H. J. BAYQN' 2,242,221

BRACE 0R LIKE ARTICLE Filed Sept. 30, 1938 Patented May 20, 1941 UiTED ERACE R LIKE ARTICLE Henri Joseph Bayon, Angers, France Application September 30, 1938, Serial No. 232,636

' In France August 13, 1938 Claims.

The present invention. has for its object a method for manufacturing braces or other elastic and non-elastic articles having a plurality of branches secured toeach other. The invention also relates, by way of industrial products, to the braces or other elastic or non-elastic articles that are made by means of the manufacturing method in question. Said method is essentially characterized by the fact that the branches of the article to be made are formed by connecting elastic or non-elastic parallel strips edge to edge, which enables, While this connection is being effected, either the strips forming different branches to be interlaced, or certain strips of one of the branches 'to be made to participate in the formation of other branches of the article, or more generally the interdependence of the branches to be obtained without any intermediate member by the combination with each other of the strips forming said branches.

In the accompanying drawing, Figs. 1, 2 and 3 show, by way of example only, three portions of braces obtained by applying the method of manufacture which is the object of the present invention.

As characterized above, the method of manufacture which is the object of the present invention is intended to produce articles forming a plurality of integral branches made of fabric or elastic material, in such a manner that the assembly of said branches and the inter-dependence of same are obtained without an intermediate connecting member. For example, in the case of the construction of braces, the mounting made of skin or other material, which is usually used to connect the front parts of the branche to the rear parts of same, will be eliminated, thereby also eliminating any break in the elastic threads forming said branches.

Said method of manufacture is therefore characterized by the fact that the branches of the article are formed by assembling (sewing, cementing or other connecting means) edge to edge the parallel strips a, b, c made of elastic material. This construction of the branches by means of successively assembled strips thus enables, during this work, certain strips belonging to one of the branches d to be made to participate in the actual formation of another branch e and conversely, (Fig. l-Fig. 3), thereby automatically and directly forming the connection between said branches d, e. In the embodiment of Fig. 1, the strip 1) which forms the lower part of the left branch d forms one of the elements of the upper part of the right branch e, the strips which are transferred from one to the other of the branches d and e crossing each other at the point ,1. In Fig. 1, the lower part of the branch e on the right hand side is shown during the seaming operation for securing together the two component strips a and b. In the embodiment of Fig. 3, the strip b of the lower part of the left branch d also forms the lower part of the right branch e. The same applies to the upper parts, the strips 2), ba, which are transferred from one to the other of the branches d and e, being arranged parallel at g and connected to each other by sewing, cementing or other means.

Instead of transferring the strips from one of the branches to another, it is also possible to interlace said strips a, 1) during the operation for connecting same together, as shown in Fig. 2; the connecting operation, which enables the branches d, e of the article to be completed, being continued after the interlacing h which secures said branches together without having recourse to any intermediate member.

Fig. 1 furthermore shows that the method of manufacture adopted enables buttonholes to be obtained in a very simple manner since it suffices to form the two component strips 01., b of a branch d or e by means ofa single strip which, at the end of the branch, is brought back parallel to itself after having undergone an angular displacement of By beginning the connection of the opposite edges of these two parts a, b of the same strip at some distance from the end of same, an empty space i is thus provided which can act as a buttonhole.

Modifications may be made in the means described above without exceeding the scope of the present invention, said invention moreover applying to the braces and other articles that can be obtained by this method and which, considered per se, form new industrial products.

I claim:

1. -A brace or similar article having twov shoulder-straddling branches and two rear-anchorage branches all meeting at a common junction zone substantially nearer the ends of said rear-anchorage branches than the ends of said shoulderstraddling branches, so as to permit said junction zone to be disposed at the back of the wearer when in normal use, each of said branches comprising a plurality of generally flat and uninterrupted parallel pre-formed and un-slitted textile strips generally co-extensive with the branch, the strips of each branch being sewn edge-to-edge throughout the major portion of the lengths thereof, said branches being connected to each other in said junction zone, each of said branch-forming strips being common to at least two branches and extending uninterruptedly from one to the other through said junction, and each rear-anchorage branch having its branch-forming strips continuous with each other and forming a buttonreceiving and engaging loop.

2. A brace or similar article having two shoulder-straddling branches and two rear-anchorage branches all meeting at a common junction zone substantially nearer the ends of said rear-anchorage branches than the ends of said shoulderstraddling branches, so as to permit said junction zone to be disposed at the back of the wearer when in normal use, each of said branches comprising a plurality of generally fiat and uninterrupted parallel pre-formed and un-slitted textile strips generally co-extensive with the branch, the strips of each branch being sewn edge-to-edge throughout the major portion of the lengths thereof, said branches being connected to each other in said junction zone, each of said branchforming strips extending through said junction from one branch to another and the branchforming strips of each rear-anchorage branch being continuous with each other and forming a button-receiving and engaging loop.

3. A brace or similar article having two shoulder-straddling branches and two rear-anchorage branches all meeting at a common junction zone substantially nearer the ends of said rear-anchorage branches than the ends of said shoulderstraddling branches, so as to permit said junction zone to be disposed at the back of the wearer when in normal use, each of said branches comprising a plurality of generally flat and uninterrupted parallel pre-formed and un-slitted textile strips generally co-extensive with the branch, the strips of each branch being sewn edge-to-edge throughout the major portion of the lengths thereof, said branches being connected to each other in said junction zone, one of said branch-forming strips extending continuously through one side of each of said shoulder-straddling branches and through both sides of each of said rear-anchorage branches and forming a button-receiving and engaging loop at the end of each of said rear-anchorage branches.

4. A brace or similar article having two shoulder-straddling branches and two rear-anchorage branches all meeting at a common junction zone substantially nearer the ends of said rear-anchorage branches than the ends of said shoulderstraddling branches, so as to permit said junction zone to be disposed at the back of the wearer when in normal use, each of said branches comprising a plurality of generally flat and uninterrupted parallel pre-formed and un-slitted textile strips generally co-extensive with the branch, the strips of each branch being sewn edge-to-edge throughout the major portion of the lengths thereof, said branches being connected to each other in said junction zone, one of the branchforming strips extending uninterruptedly through one side of each of said shoulder-straddling branches and through both sides of one of said anchorage branches while another one of said branch-forming strips extends uninterruptedly through the other side of each of said shoulderstraddling branches and through both sides of the other of said rear-anchorage branches.

5. A brace or similar article having two shoulder-straddling branches and two rear-anchorage branches all meeting at a common junction zone substantially nearer the ends of said rear-anchorage branches than the ends of said shoulderstraddling branches, so as to permit said junction zone to be disposed at the back of the wearer when in normal use, each of said branches comprising a plurality of generally flat and uninterrupted parallel pre-formed and un-slitted textile strips generally co-extensive with the branch, the strips of each branch being sewn edge-to-edge throughout the major portion of the lengths thereof, said branches being connected to, each other in said junction zone, one of said branchforming strips extending uninterruptedly through both sides of one of said shoulder-straddling branches and through both sides of the rearanchorage branch diagonally opposite thereto, while another of said branch-forming strips extends uninterruptedly through both sides of the other of said shoulder-straddling branches and through both sides of the rear-anchorage branch diagonally opposite thereto.

HENRI JOSEPH BAYON. 

